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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28865091">water, and other vocabulary</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/maximumsuckage/pseuds/maximumsuckage'>maximumsuckage</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Desert, Gen, Heat Stroke, Language Barrier, Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine, Sign Language</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:00:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,392</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28865091</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/maximumsuckage/pseuds/maximumsuckage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"He was a diplomat- the Negotiator, despite everything, and she had not made a mindless sound. He knew language when he heard it."</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>81</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>water, and other vocabulary</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>this oneshot brought to you by cheap wine</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Luke played among the dunes. There were other children- their laughter rose high and clear above the sands. Ben stood, near invisible, in the shade of a rocky outcropping. He had no interested in the other children, all native-born denizens of Tatooine. His eyes were only for the blond boy who trotted along behind them.</p><p>He tugged his hood higher, trying to cast more shade over his face. The sunburn on his shoulders blistered, wet and uncivilized under his layers of clothes. It had been his own fault. It was hot, and he had shed his tunic to run through his katas out hidden in the dunes. He had been here for four years now- he should have known it would burn him.</p><p>Luke was four now- Obi-wan’s arrival here nearly coincided with the boy’s birthday. Were Owen not so vehement that he stay away, Ben would have told him that.</p><p>But he remained silent, at a distance.</p><p>It was too hot out, even in the shade. The children wore light colors, pulled up over their hair. Their faces glistened with sunscreen.</p><p>He wrapped the Force around him like a second cloak. If anybody looked his way, their eyes would slide right over him.</p><p>He hated the sun. Even through the outcropping, it seemed to burn into him. And he could not leave- there were no adults around. The little group of children played unsupervised except for one broken ex-Jedi. And nobody even knew the Jedi was there.</p><p>Ben slid down against the rocks until he sat, hating the adults. They didn’t even know they had an unseen babysitter, and he hated himself for not trusting them. Of course this was a safe area. They would not have left their children otherwise.</p><p>Still, Ben had not survived years as a Jedi and time as a war-general by being trusting.</p><p>He dropped his head back against the rock, listening for the laughter of the children. He was too hot. It was too hot out, even in the shade. But if he took off his cloak, then the hot sand and stone would touch his burned skin. He was not doing well.</p><p>He let out a laugh, then covered his mouth so the children wouldn’t hear. Who was he? A hermit watching strange kids? That was terrible, he had to admit. Even if one was the child of his padawan-</p><p>His breath came in a choked sob, though no tears pricked his eyes. He doubted there was enough water left in his body to cry anymore.</p><p>Luke’s laugh rose, high and clear, and Ben’s world spun. He sounded so like Anakin. He closed his eyes, and for a moment he was twenty-five and laughing with his new padawan again.</p><p>Anakin had gotten him through Qui-gon’s death.</p><p>The world seemed to spin around him. It was too hot. Far too hot. He needed water, but he didn’t care to get up and travel for it. Better to just sit here and let the world spin around him.</p><p>Maybe if he sat here long enough, Luke’s laugh would truly become Anakin’s. Vader would be only a memory, and Anakin would shake Ben awake from a heat-striken dream on some Force-forsaken mission.</p><p>…</p><p>He woke up in a tent.</p><p>“Kriff,” he said into the rough pillow, because there was nothing else he really could say. This was certainly not his home, and the last thing he could remember was watching over Luke from afar-</p><p>He sat up sharply, but his head spun and he fell back to the pillow. Someone pressed a hand into his chest, holding him down. He tried to slap it away, but they were adamant.</p><p>He opened his eyes again, though that somehow made the room spin even more. One of the Tuskans held him down- he could sense her even through her face wrappings, though he could not see her eyes.</p><p>He went limp, because he felt no animosity from her. And even if he did sense the animosity, he probably would not have fought. He had no fight in him right now. He wasn’t so delusional as to not realize that.</p><p>Anakin had taken all his fight. All that left was the hope in Luke, and he could not even be in Luke’s life.</p><p>The sand person waited a moment to see if he would fight her. When he went limp under her hand, she pulled away. She grunted, waved at him, then picked up a skin of water.</p><p>He sat up, slower this time, and mimicked the noise.</p><p>He was a diplomat- the Negotiator, despite everything, and she had not made a mindless sound. He knew language when he heard it.</p><p>Her awareness flickered in the Force. She repeated the grunt and the hand gesture, then handed him the skin.</p><p>He drank deeply- he could not stop himself. Instinct kept him alive, and he was far too dehydrated.</p><p>She watched him, silent. When he finally handed her back the half-drained skin, she made the sign and the noise again.</p><p>A little more clear-headed, he mimicked it again, this time adding in the gesture. His fingers didn’t quite bend the correct way. She made a noise like a cough- laughter, he realized through the Force- and reached out.</p><p>He flinched back, then schooled himself. She drew back, waiting for him to relax.</p><p>After a moment, both silently understand, she reached for his hand again. This time, he let her flex his fingers, mimicking the sign.</p><p>“Water,” he said, then made the noise she had. It was harsh in the back of his throat.</p><p>She flicked her hand at him, then repeated it.</p><p>He grit his teeth, and mimicked again.</p><p>She laughed again, that coughing noise, then patted his cheek and offered him the skin again.</p><p>Just to show her that he <em>had</em> learned, he repeated the word and sign for <em>water</em> before he drank the rest of it.</p><p>…</p><p>She had dragged him- sunstroked and probably delusional, though he couldn’t remember- to a nomadic village. Banthas wandered amidst the tents, and Ben thought of the little wild herd that lived near him. They would be fine on their own- they had been fine before his arrival. But they had grown used to his putting water out for them, and they would be wondering where he was.</p><p>He stroked one that came too close. The woman caught his eye. He couldn’t see her face, but he felt her awareness and she looked directly at him. Her amusement flickered, and she elbowed her companion. A man- brother or husband or friend, Ben could not tell.</p><p>He looked and made a derisive sort of gesture towards her. She laughed, then looked back to Ben.</p><p><em>Water</em>, she said in that mix of sound and hand-gesture.</p><p><em>Water,</em> he said back, though he knew that the joints of his fingers were not quite made for this language.</p><p>The woman nudged her companion.</p><p>He tilted his head, studying Ben through his eyepieces. Then he pointed to the bantha and made a wide, sweeping gesture with his hand.</p><p>Ben tilted his head.</p><p>The sand person repeated the gesture- slower, this time. He held his hand up so Ben could see how his fingers were folded.</p><p>Ben repeated the gesture- he did not know if it meant <em>bantha</em> or if it was this specific bantha’s name. But the beast saw him do it, and swung its great head around to nuzzle Ben’s side with great fuzzy lips. He fell against the animal, tangling his hands in its fur, and he did not care that the sand people were laughing at him.</p><p>…</p><p>He stayed for three days. During that time he learned the words for <em>water</em>, <em>bantha</em>, <em>beer</em>, <em>man</em>, <em>woman</em>, <em>child</em>, <em>dinner</em>, <em>sand</em>, <em>gritty sand</em>, <em>fine sand</em>, <em>diamond sand</em>, <em>sandstorm</em>…</p><p>When he left, he bowed his head to the woman who had… if not saved him, then at least made his recovery from the heatstroke easier to bear. “May the Force be with you,” he said.</p><p>She touched his arm. “Force… with you,” she said, with vocal cords not meant for Basic speech.</p><p>He touched her hand, then roughly signed, <em>friend</em>.</p><p>He knew his hands were accented by his human skeleton. But then she signed “<em>Friend</em>,” back to him. He smiled at her, then turned back towards home. Somebody had to watch Luke.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>&lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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